BOOKS THREAD

Haven't read anything in a while, but recently picked up one of my all-time favorites and am re-reading it. Irwin Shaw's "The Young Lions" is simply one of the best novels ever written.

 

I read that a few weeks ago and enjoyed it, though it was a tad slow at times. It's not my favorite WWII novel, that would probably be Catch-22 or The Thin Red Line, but well worth reading.

 

I think I've read more books in the past two months than I have in the past two years.

Some good ones,
Wicked
Son of a Witch
The Secret Life of Bees
The Devil Wears Prada
Smashed
Running with Scissors

 

I just finished "Wicked," thanks mainly to the praise it had gotten here, and I liked it a lot, although I think I might need to go back and re-read the end. Must've had too many beers that night, because it seemed like it kinda petered out after developing a big head of steam.

 

I thought if petered out a little bit too. Son of a Witch was excellent, though. I was a little dissapointed at the end until I really thought about it. Now I hope that there isn't another book in the series.

 

Taylor Branch's three-volume set (Parting The Waters, Pillar of Fire, At Canaan's Edge) on Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement is long (obviously) and will take a big chunk of your reading time, but it's well worth it. Great reporting and fluid writing. Almost every page has illuminating stuff you probably didn't know.

 

I'm anxious to read "The Last Season." It's about a veteran park ranger who disappeared. Some of the advance reviews have compared it to "Into The Wild."

 

Halfway through it ... but I did read that shoulder surgery put "Last Dance" well behind schedule. That helps explain the sort of rapid-fire releases.

It's a collection of anecdotes, some of which he's already told in "A Season Inside," "A Season On The Brink" and "A March to Madness." But it's still worthwhile. World-class? No.

Call it Feinstein Disease ... this is No. 11 for me. :-[

 

I loved "The Secret Life of Bees." I don't know if there was a chapter in which I didn't cry, or at least get choked up.

I'm reading "Smashed" right now. It's kept my attention but I haven't blown away by it because it seems as if it's a lot of dramatic writing about every ridiculous bender the author has been on.

 

So I finally broke down and injected myself with Canseco's would-be Iliad on a plane. It's the kind of book that's so bad it makes your stomach hurt.

 

Iliad? I was expecting more of a tormented soul. Kind of an Outfielder in the Rye.

 

... so the book is like an injection in the butt?